Winn-ing! - Part 1
by LANIKI
Summary: Winn and Samantha (Sam) are starting a new life in National City. There are highs and lows in any relationship, but when outside influences intrude, our heroes need their friends and their love for each other to see them through. Sequel to For the Winn - if you haven't read it, you should! I'll provide a brief summary, but READ THAT STORY FIRST!
1. Chapter 1

**Sam moved to National City with Winn and now they need to navigate their new life there. This story will have a lot more drama than the last one and a good deal of angst.**

 **Please see end notes for a brief summary of For the Winn.**

"Are you nervous?" Winn asked her.

"No." Sam said, but her voice cracked.

He took his right hand off the steering wheel and grabbed her left one. "It's fine. You're gonna do great at the DEO."

They were on their way to work, his first day back after being shot in New York, her first day ever at the DEO.

"It's just that I've never worked anywhere but CPC. And the DEO is a little intimidating."

"Yeah, but you'll only be in Data Management. That's not very intimidating. And by the way, I still don't get why you're there."

"I told you, I don't want special treatment. I want to start where anyone would start."

"I didn't start there."

"You're best friends with Supergirl. And you saved her and Superman's lives."

"So did you!"

"No, I just helped you. Winn, I'll feel more comfortable starting this way. I can move to another area later."

He sighed. "I know. I just want everyone to see how terrific you are."

She smiled, knowing he was trying to boost her confidence as always. She'd come a long way from the insecure girl he'd met when he'd gone to New York. It was his falling in love with her and trusting her to help with DEO projects that had given her the strength to leave New York with him and go to work for the DEO. But she wasn't ready to go full force. This would be easier to adjust to.

Data Management processed all the information that was obtained by field agents. After a mission, they analyzed, filed and cross referenced it to be used at a later date if something similar occurred. It was still important work, even if not as exciting as working with agents on the missions.

Even though she wouldn't be in the field, she was still nervous. Despite the help she'd given them – twice – she still knew that she was hired largely on Winn's recommendation. She didn't want to disappoint him.

He pulled into his regular parking space in the DEO's underground garage and they got out of his car. She put her hand on his arm.

"I don't want to walk into work with you. I don't want to flaunt my relationship with you and have people think that I only got this job because of you."

"You didn't! And since when do you care what people think?"

"This is a new job and a new city. I want to start off right." She kissed him. "So I'll kiss you goodbye now."

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "Okay, goodbye. I love you."

She broke away, smiled and said, "I love you too."

Then she walked into the elevator. He watched her go, hoping her old insecurities weren't coming back. He loved her so much and was so happy she'd decided to come to National City with him. He knew the DEO was daunting. He'd been a tad overwhelmed when he'd started, though he'd hid it well. It had helped that Kara was already there. Having your best friend who also happened to be Supergirl made it much easier to adjust.

But Sam needed to realize that she had that too. He was there and he loved her. Kara also liked her, a lot. J'onn had been impressed with her work. Brad would soon be working there too. If she'd trust in herself, she'd be great.

Following the directions Winn had given her, she found her department. There was a pleasant faced woman sitting at a desk.

Sam approached her. "Hi, I'm Samantha Nolan. I'm starting here today."

"Oh, yeah, we heard about you. Hello, Samantha, I'm Beth."

"Call me Sam. Are you the department head?"

"No that's Jillian. She's not in yet. The assistant head is Paul. He's not here yet either. But you can sit over there. They said that would be your desk." She indicated a desk in the corner.

"Thanks." Sam went to the desk and sat down. She powered up the computer, but she didn't have a sign-on yet. It probably wasn't a good idea to hack into your employer's system on your first day, even though Winn had shown her how.

She thought about the first day she'd met him when he started working at her company in New York. He was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen. She hadn't wanted to admit it then, but now she knew that she'd started to fall in love with him on that first day.

Her phone dinged, indicating a text. She looked at it.

Marni: Good luck on your first day.

Sam: Thanks! A little nervous.

Marni: You'll do great

Sam: Hope so.

She looked up from the phone to see a woman frowning at her.

"Wow, first day and you're already wasting time on your phone."

"I. uh, I didn't, I don't have a sign-on. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do yet."

"Excuses don't cut it at the DEO."

Sam didn't know why this woman was being so nasty.

"Are you Jillian?" Sam asked.

"Who else would I be?"

As it was her first day and she wasn't sure if her new boss was having a bad day or was normally nasty, she held her tongue.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure. Hi, I'm Sam Nolan and I …"

"I know who you are. I was told you were coming."

"Good, well, it's nice to meet you. I'm ready to get started. Do you have my sign-on?"

"God, you're already useless. Didn't your boyfriend tell you how to sign in?"

"Well, no, I…"

"Here's the thing, Nolan. I hate nepotism. You may have been hired because of your relationship with the DEO's golden boy, but that doesn't mean a thing to me."

Sam wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she said nothing.

"You're going to be as stupid as I thought." She turned to the woman Sam had met earlier. "Beth, get her signed in, then give her files to input."

"But…"

"I didn't ask for a discussion." She went to her office.

Beth hurried over and helped Sam get signed in to the system. Then she accessed some files and showed Sam how to enter the data.

"What do I do with it after I enter it?" Sam asked.

"She just said to enter it. Maybe she wants you to get familiar with the files."

"That makes sense."

On the way home that day, Winn asked her, "So, how was your first day?"

"Well, I'm still learning the job, so I just entered the data to files."

"You did?"

"Yes. I think she wanted me to get comfortable before doing anything else with them."

"Yeah, but the data is uploaded automatically from video and audio feeds. No one inputs it. Your department's job is to sort through it and cross reference. For instance, if on a mission agents encounter a Galerian, you would add that to other instances when Galerians were encountered, so that if we encounter one again, I could look back and find all the other times."

She shrugged. "As I said, maybe she just wants me to learn about the files."

"Maybe." He agreed. "But how do you feel about what you're doing?"

"Fine. I'm just tired. I want to get home, take a bath and fool around with you."

He smiled. "I can go along with that."

But as the days and weeks went on and Sam was not given any other work to do, she began to doubt her own words.

* * *

 **I made up the department that Sam will be working in. I assume there are other areas besides the command center where J'onn, Winn and the others are all the time.**

 **Here is a brief summary of For the Winn (which you really should read first!): James was killed on a Guardian mission and Winn ran away to New York City where he met another computer geek, Samantha (Sam). They became friends, then platonic roommates, then lovers. But visits from his friends in National City convinced him that he needed to go back. Sam was unsure about that, so he went without her, but came back when she needed his help. Almost losing him convinced her that she had to be with him and she agreed to move to National City with him.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone who is reading and commenting! Glad you all came back for Sam and Winn's story.**

Every day, while others in the department were working on interesting projects, the only job she was given was data entry. And since she knew that job was not necessary, she wasn't sure why she was being told to do this.

She asked Beth one day when Jillian had left the office. The other woman shrugged and looked upset.

"I don't know. We have plenty of other work to do."

Sam was confused, but she didn't tell Winn. She was afraid he'd tell J'onn and she wanted to deal with the situation on her own. Jillian already felt she was too connected to those higher up.

Winn knew something wasn't quite right in Sam's job. Every time he asked her about it, she'd say, "It's fine," but wouldn't give details. He didn't push her, knowing that if she wanted to talk about it, she would. But he was worried about her.

The assistant department head, Paul, was not as rude as Jillian, though he seemed to get along with the boss. He would stop by Sam's desk and chat with her. He was a little flirty, but not too overbearing. Sam hoped that if they became friends, he might help her to do the real work and not just unnecessary data entry.

But as the days went on, she seemed destined to continue the drudge work. She overheard her co-worker, Beth, complaining about being overworked, but Jillian forbade her to give any work to Sam. Beth seemed upset about it.

One day, after Jillian left for the day and Sam and Beth were closing up, Sam said to Beth, "I don't know why I can't help you with your work,"

Beth looked upset when she said, "I don't think Jillian feels you're ready."

"Why don't you just show me a few easy tasks and see if I can do them?"

Beth bit her lip. "I don't know. Jillian always threatens to fire me if I don't do exactly as she says. I have two kids and a deadbeat ex. If I lose this job, my kids and I are out on the street."

"I can understand that pressure. I just feel bad, you seem really overworked."

"I am. And if I don't step it up, Jillian will give me a bad review like she did last year and I won't get my raise. And I need that raise. My daughter needs braces."

"Then why not let me help you? I won't tell Jillian and I'm good at hiding my screen when she's in the room."

"That would be great."

From then on, Sam had a little work to do. Beth was afraid to give her too much, in case Jillian figured it out. But it was better than nothing.

Sam tried to make friends with Beth, but the woman resisted. "Jillian told me not to. I'm sorry, you seem nice, but she doesn't like you and she has a lot of power."

"Can't you go to HR or something?"

"There's no HR here, it's in DC. And if I go to someone she would make up stuff to give me a bad review. The only reason she hasn't threatened you is because of your boyfriend. He's too high up, working with Supergirl and all."

That really made Sam angry. She'd come to this department to avoid that. She knew she could ask to be transferred and J'onn would do it, but she didn't want to be defeated by Jillian. And she felt bad for Beth and wanted to help her. So she did the little bit of work that she gave her and tried to stay out of her boss's way.

Jillian didn't realize that she was doing more work. Either she was stupid or too self-involved to notice. But her assistant manager, Paul, was not. He soon caught on.

One day, he approached her desk and spoke softly, "I know you've been helping Beth."

Sam looked anxious. "It's not Beth's fault. I asked her to give me some work. I was bored with the data entry."

"Relax, Beth isn't in trouble. I didn't realize you wanted more to do. Why don't you stay after today? I can give you some interesting things to do. And I can talk to Jillian about it."

"That would be great!"

She texted Winn: I have to work late.

Winn: Want me to wait?

Sam: Not sure how long I'll be. I'll take the bus.

Winn: Sure you know which one?

Sam: No problem.

After Jillian and the rest of the department had gone, Paul called her into the small conference room. "I want to show you what's up."

"Okay." She went in and closed the door.

"So here's the deal." He said. "Jillian doesn't trust you, but I think you can do the work."

"I can! I had stellar reviews at my last job."

"I'm sure you did. So I'll give you some projects, good ones, and once they're done, I'll let Jillian know that you did them and that she can trust you."

"That would be great."

"And we also wouldn't want Beth to get in trouble for helping you, would we?"

"Of course not."

"I will be putting myself out for you. Are you willing to put yourself out for me?"

"I, uh, guess. What is it you need me to do?"

"We'll start simple. A bj should do for starters."

Sam's blood ran cold suddenly, but she had to be sure he was saying what she thought he was saying.

"By bj do you mean…"

"I mean your mouth, my dick." With those words, he put his hand on her thigh.

She jumped up. "What-?"

"Oh, come on, don't act so shocked. You're familiar with sleeping your way to the top. Isn't that what you did with Schott? You must be pretty good, because he's had a few hot women, but he's never gotten them jobs."

Sam didn't know what to say. The shock overwhelmed her. She ran for the door, but as she did, she heard him say, "Think about it. I can help you."

She grabbed her purse and ran out of the building, getting on the first bus she saw. Which, of course, was the wrong one. She was halfway across town in the wrong direction when she realized it. She had to take another bus back before getting on the one that headed to their apartment.

By the time she arrived at her door, she was too upset to find her key. Tears ran down her face as she fumbled in her purse for it. Suddenly, the door opened and Winn was there.

"Hey, did you forget your key." He asked, then saw her face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I, uh, got on the wrong bus."

"You really need to learn to drive." But he could see she was really upset. "Sam, what happened? Other than the bus?"

She looked at him and knew she had to tell him. But first, she needed him to hold her. She fell into his arms and he engulfed her in them.

"Honey, what happened?" He pulled her inside, shut the door and led her to the sofa. "Did something happen on the bus?"

"No, it was at work." Slowly, she told him about the work situation and how Paul offered to help her.

Winn started to feel anger rise in him. "What did he do?"

Biting back a sob, she said, "He told me he could help me get ahead and work on interesting projects, but I had to do something for him."

He tried to keep calm for Sam's sake. "I assume he said what you should do for him?"

She nodded. In a small voice she said, "A bj to start."

Winn wanted to explode, but he held it in.

"And then he said, he said…" she had a harder time with the next part. "He said I slept with you to get this job, so what did it matter?"

He pulled her back into his arms and held her. "You know that's not true, don't you?"

"No, you had to practically beg me to come here and take the job."

He sighed. "All of this is a mess. You should have told me from the beginning."

"I wanted to handle it myself. I didn't want to come crying to you with every problem like I'm doing now."

"No, this is serious. Sam, I told you the work your department does is important. If field agents come up against someone or something, I need to be able to access any information we have on them so that the agents know what they're up against. Other agencies access our files as well. We can't have people messing around with that."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. But we've got to figure this out and we can't do it alone. You go take a shower and I'll get the others."

"Do we have to tell everyone?"

"Yeah, babe, we do."

She nodded and went to the bedroom. He texted Kara and J'onn and told them to come over and that it was important.

 **Sorry it got so dramatic so quickly. Yes, Sam doesn't drive. She lived in New York City all her life before this. And New Yorkers don't usually drive.**


	3. Chapter 3

By the time Sam had showered and changed and came out of the bedroom, Kara, Alex and J'onn were there.

Winn said to her, "Honey, I told them the gist of it."

She nodded.

"Can you give me the details?" J'onn asked.

She told him about Jillian's words and actions, then she got to Paul. It was embarrassing, but she told him what he'd said.

She saw anger on his usually impassive face. "That does not happen in my organization." He said tightly.

"I'm not lying! He…"

"I'm sorry, I don't mean it didn't happen, I meant it shouldn't. And won't. I believe you and we're going to take care of this."

They talked about some possible solutions, then agreed the best one was to catch Paul making his requests, then possibly he would talk about Jillian.

Well, everyone except Winn agreed.

"I do not want Sam to be alone with that…that…weasel."

"Winn, she'll have a recording device." Kara told him. "We'll hear everything that's going on and we can get in there if he tries anything."

Sam put her had on Winn's arm. "I'll be okay. But I want to catch him. Otherwise, it's his word against mine."

"But…"

"This is the best way, Agent Schott. We won't let anything happen to her."

Winn looked at the director's face and saw the determination here and he nodded.

The next day, Sam went to work as usual. When she saw Paul, she took a deep breath and said quietly to him, "Um, that project we were discussing last night? Can we discuss it further after work today?

He gave her a smarmy smile that made her sick to her stomach.

"Sure. Meet me in the conference room once everyone's gone."

She nodded and returned to her desk, trying to control her heart that was beating way too fast. She forced herself to calm down and once he was in his office, she texted Alex: Go.

At some point that afternoon, she got a text from Alex that said: Four.

She went to the ladies room and into the fourth stall, where Alex was balancing on top of the toilet. Silently, she fitted Sam with the recording equipment and activated it. Sam returned to her desk and waited until everyone was gone for the day, then went into the conference room.

Paul was waiting for her. "Glad you came to your senses. There are things you need to do to get ahead in the world."

"So exactly what will you want me to do and what will you do for me?"

"Do you really need me to spell it out? You get some good projects to work on and I get some favors from you."

"You mentioned a bj, is that right?"

"Yep. Or several." He said with a chuckle. "Then, if we're having fun, and you want more good projects, we can take it further."

"What about Jillian? Won't she object?"

"Don't worry, I have enough dirt on her. She won't have anything to say. So do we have a deal?"

"Maybe. I just need to think it over, you know."

"Not much to think about. Yes or no."

"Well, we wouldn't do it here anyway, so what's the difference if I think about it?"

He stood up, walked to the door and locked it. "No reason not to start right now. No one can come in."

At the DEO command center, J'onn, Alex and Kara were holding Winn down, since he was going to break down the door of the conference room.

"Agent Schott, we're not going to let anything happen to her."

"He locked the door!"

J'onn pulled a card out of his pocket. "And I have the key."

"You'd better use it now." Alex said.

On the recording, they could hear Sam saying, "I won't do it here. Can't we go somewhere else?"

"You expect me to pay for a hotel room? No way. Right here is fine."

He started to unzip his pants and Sam said, "I haven't even made a definite decision."

"Well, I have, sugar, so let's get this party started."

"Don't touch me!"

"Bitch, you keep this up and I'll do more than touch you."

At that moment, the door opened and J'onn and Alex walked in. "I suggest you take your hands off MS Nolan." J'onn said tersely.

"Hey, she came on to me!" Paul said. "It's after hours, we're two consenting adults, so what's the harm?"

"There would be none, if we hadn't listened to a recording of your entire conversation."

Paul turned to Sam, fury on his face. "You bitch!" He went towards her, his hands raised, violence in his look. Alex intercepted him and flipped him so that he was lying on the floor.

In the control center, Kara had her arms around Winn to hold him in place, but even her super strength was tested by the determination of a man hearing the woman he loved in danger.

"Alex," Kara said, "He's fighting me and I can barely hold him."

J'onn said to Sam. "Please go to Winn before he hurts himself."

She nodded and without looking back at Paul, ran out of the conference room and up to the control center.

When she appeared, Kara let Winn go and Sam ran into his arms.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" he asked her.

"No, I'm fine." She held him tight.

Kara heard something in her earpiece and said, "Okay, I'll tell them."

She turned to Winn and Sam. "Alex said you two should go home. She and J'onn are questioning Paul."

"I want to be there." Winn said. "I want to—"

"I know what you want to do. J'onn wants to talk to him with no emotions in the way. He needs to see what Jillian's up to so he can deal with both of them. If he needs your input, he'll get it tomorrow."

Sam put her hand on his chest. "We need to go home. It's being dealt with."

Winn stared in the direction of the conference room, then at the two women.

"Winn, please." Kara said.

"Please, honey." Sam said.

He didn't look happy, but he nodded and they left.

At home, Winn was still upset. "I can't believe what he said to you and what he was going to do. If Kara hadn't held me, I would have broken down that door!"

"Yeah, I figured that. I'll admit I was a little nervous even though I knew they would make it in there before anything happened."

He held her. "I'm so sorry this had to happen to you. I didn't bring you here for you to face this."

"It's not your fault. And I guess I needed a little shake-up in my life. Being here with you is worth any of the other shit I had to face."

He kissed her then, really happy this woman was in his life.

The next day, J'onn pulled both of them into a conference room to tell them, "Jillian and Paul have both been fired. It turns out that Jillian was running her own security business using DEO resources and Paul was getting a cut of it to keep quiet about it. I could bring them up on charges, but that would put too much attention on the DEO and we don't need that.

"I was tempted to fire everyone in the department, but I don't believe anyone else was involved. However, everyone should have informed me of her behavior. Including you, MS Nolan."

Winn spoke up. "Wait, she was the victim! Why are you mad at her?"

"Because she didn't report it to me. It may seem that Data management isn't important, but the rest of us depend on that information being up to date."

Winn and Sam glanced at each other, since it was what he had told her.

"Still," Winn said, "Thanks to her, you uncovered this."

"Yes, that's why she's still employed. I now need a new department head and several staff members."

Sam interrupted, "Sir, if I may suggest? Beth should be the department head. She knows everything about the department. And the only reason she didn't tell you is that Jillian threatened to fire her and she's a single mom."

He nodded, "I'll speak to her. Also, as the work was neglected for so long, I'll need everyone in tech to help them get up to date."

Winn asked, "By everyone, do you mean…"

"Yes, that includes you, Mr. Schott."

"Damn." Winn said. Sam hid a smile.

"As for you, MS Nolan, would you like to stay there or move to a different area?"

"I think I'd like to stay. I liked the little bit of actual work that I did. I'd like to really be responsible for some projects.'

"Fine. But if you ever come across any sort of corruption in my organization, you will bring it directly to me, do you understand?"

"Yes sir, absolutely."

"Alright, everyone go back to work. I'll check out Beth's resume. In the meantime, there's plenty for you to do.

They split, heading to their own departments.

J'onn did promote Beth. She proved to be an extremely knowledgeable boss who was also fair.

Sam began to enjoy her job after that.

Around that time, Marni and Brad arrived in National City and Sam's life was complete. A job she liked, her best friend, along with new friends. And mostly, a man she loved.

When Winn saw that she was happy and at peace, he began to get another idea.

 **A little bit of fluff coming up before it gets dramatic again. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

They were gathered at the bar, Winn, Sam and all of their friends. Winn had arranged for everyone to get together here, ostensibly to welcome Marni and Brad to National City. They were drinking and eating chicken wings, not realizing that someone was watching them.

Lyra Strayd had made many mistakes in her life. Some were out of her control, considering what happened to her planet and her family. Some were of her own doing. One of those was blasting Winn Schott out of her life. Anger had never gotten her anywhere good. She regretted destroying their relationship almost immediately after she'd done it. But before she could fix it, he'd left National City. So she did too, hoping to make her life over somewhere else. But she was drawn back to the only place she'd been happy in a long time.

And of course, she returned to the bar that didn't look at her as though she was, well, an alien.

She was drinking at the bar when they came in. At first she thought it was only his friends. She knew they liked it here for some reason. But then she saw him as well. He was by the side of a woman she didn't know, but that didn't impress her.

She waited until there were seated and enjoying their drinks and food. Since she was sitting at the end of the bar, they couldn't see her, but she could watch them. When she'd had enough drinks, she stood up and approached the table.

Winn's back was to her, so he didn't see her, but Kara and Alex did and immediately sat at alert.

"Hello, Winn." Lyra said coyly.

He turned around and his face tightened. "Hi, Lyra."

He tried to turn back, but she pushed herself between him and Sam and said, "Long time, no see. How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Aren't you going to ask me how I am?"

"Nope."

"Well, aren't you at least going to introduce me to your friend here?" she asked, glancing at Sam.

"Actually, yes, this is Sam. My girlfriend. Sam, this is Lyra."

"His old girlfriend." Lyra said.

Sam smiled nervously at the sexy alien standing before her. "Um, hi."

"You know," she said, "Winn and I never really ended it. We had a little argument, then he ran away."

"No." he said firmly, "We did end it. We ended it right here in this bar. And my leaving had nothing to do with you."

"Oh, come on, Winn, you can't tell me you didn't care for me?"

"Anything I felt was a long time ago."

She put her hand on his head and ran fingers through his hair. "We could resurrect it."

He flinched and pulled away from her, but Sam had enough.

"Excuse me." She said and ran to the ladies room. Marni got up and followed her, glaring at Winn as she went.

She was running water on her face when Marni came in.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Sure." Sam said, "Meeting your boyfriend's sexy ex who still wants him happens to me every day."

"It doesn't matter what she looks like or what she wants. He loves you."

"I know. It's just that I've never had a guy prefer me to a woman who looks like her."

"He. Loves. You."

She smiled and nodded. "You're right."

"And you're in here, forcing him to fight her on his own."

"Oh god, you're right!" She ran out of the bathroom.

When Sam left the table, Winn stood up and looked Lyra in the eyes. "There is nothing between us. You killed that a long time ago and I fell in love with someone else. Leave me, leave us alone."

Alex, Maggie and Kara had stood up as well. Lyra looked at all of them and realized that retreat was best- for now.

By the time Sam and Marni returned, she was gone and everyone was sitting down. Sam took her seat beside Winn.

"Which one was she? The lunatic?"

"No, Well, kind of, but the other one was committed. She's the one who almost had me arrested."

Sam nodded.

Winn looked at Sam and said, "I had no idea she was around here and that she would do that."

"I know."

He swallowed and in a nervous voice said, "There was a reason I asked everyone to join us here tonight, besides welcoming Marni and Brad."

He got down on his knee pulling a box out of his pocket. "Sam—"

"Stop!" she said, getting an idea of what he was doing, "Get up."

He stood, a sick look on his face, thinking she was rejecting him.

"Don't ever kneel to me. We're equals. Sit in your chair, then say what you were going to say."

He sat and opened the small box that contained a ring of hammered steel with a rough amethyst stone.

His voice cracked as he said, "Sam, will you marry me?"

She looked into his eyes and saw the love he had for her in them. She smiled and said. "Of course I will."

He smiled too and slipped the ring on her finger.

"No diamond?" Kara asked.

"She hates diamonds." Marni and Winn said together.

Sam reached out and put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "You know me so well." She said.

They celebrated the rest of the evening. Just before leaving, Sam slipped off to the ladies room. She was washing her hands when she heard a voice behind her.

"You know, I could get him back if I wanted."

Sam turned to see Lyra standing there.

"There was a time when I would have agreed with you, but not anymore." Sam said.

She held out her left hand. "See this? It means he's making a commitment to me. Not you, not any other lunatic he used to know. Me. A woman who loves him and puts his well-being first. So go be crazy and criminal around some other guy because you can't have mine."

Lyra looked shocked, but Sam didn't care. She smiled triumphantly and left the restroom.

When she returned to the table, she kissed her new fiancé on the lips and whispered, "Let's go home and celebrate our engagement."

He smiled, stood up and said, "Good night, everyone."

 **Can I hear a collective awww?**


	5. Chapter 5

Later that night, as they lay in bed, he asked her, "So what sort of wedding do you want? Big? Small? Formal?"

She shrugged. "I never thought about it."

"I thought every woman dreamed of her wedding from when she was a little girl."

"That's extremely sexist, implying that a woman's fulfillment only comes from marriage."

"Sorry, I didn't mean…"

"It's okay. Actually, I know lots of girls who feel that way. I was always just trying to survive with my dad. And I never thought I'd get married." She kissed him. "I never thought I'd meet someone like you."

He smiled and held her tighter. "So now that it's happening, what do you want?"

"Nothing big, fancy or formal."

"We could just go to the courthouse or something."

"Hmm, no, I think I do want our friends there. But only them. Since neither of us has family, we don't have to worry about inviting relatives we barely know, like Marni had to do."

"Okay, so a small ceremony with our friends there. What else do you want? Or don't want?"

"I don't want a big, poufy white dress. Or a white dress. Or a dress."

"Are we getting married naked?" he asked with a laugh.

"No. But I just want everyone to wear whatever they feel comfortable in, their favorite thing. Even if it's pj's."

"So we're getting married in pajamas?" he was starting to worry.

"No." she looked up at him. "Actually, can I tell you what I'd like you to wear?"

"Sure."

"Can you wear your blue cardigan, white striped shirt and light blue tie?"

"What? Why?" Now he was confused.

"Because that's what you were wearing the first time I saw you. I thought you were the most adorable man I had ever seen and I started to fall in love with you at that moment. I've loved your silly cardigans ever since."

He smiled and kissed her. "If that's what you want, that's what I'll wear."

"Do you have anything you'd like me to wear?"

"Well, let me think. You did look hot in that black dress on our date."

"Ugh, I figured you'd say that."

"But I don't need you to wear that for our wedding. Maybe for our wedding night, so I can take it off you. I know that you hate dresses and a wedding gown isn't necessary, but I do like a dress on a woman. Something comfortable and colorful. You decide. But you don't have to do that if you don't want to. Anything you'd want is good with me."

"I'll think about it. Okay, we've got clothes and size decided, what else?"

"Where should we do it?"

"Outdoors is nice. Maybe the park?" she suggested.

"Cool. We can take a look at it tomorrow and see when it's available. What else?"

"We need a maid of honor and best man. No more attendants, just that. I've got Marni, of course. Who do you want?"

He was silent, then said, "Well, since is going to be a non-traditional wedding, I'd like to have Kara as best man."

"That's a great idea!"

"Do you think she'll go for it?"

"Of course she will. She'll be honored."

He nodded. "Now we need food, decorations, a cake…"

"Ugh, I hate planning all that crap." She groaned. "Wedding planning is so ridiculously stressful. I remember Marni. She almost went insane planning hers. I didn't think she and Brad would actually make it to the altar."

"Yeah. Wait, altar—do you want a religious service?"

"No way. I'm not religious."

"Me neither, so, cool."

"Hey," she said, "I have an idea! Let's gather our friends and ask them to help us with stuff."

"Great idea!"

So the next evening, everyone gathered at Winn and Sam's apartment. Over pizza, they started to outline their wedding plans.

"It's going to be very non-traditional and simple." Sam told them.

"Do you have a date?" Marni asked.

"We're hoping for three weeks from now, if we can get the park then."

"Three weeks! How can you plan an entire wedding in three weeks?"

"You can when it's not as insane as yours was."

"My wedding was beautiful!"

"It was. But it almost killed you."

"That's true." Brad said.

Marni glared at her husband, but then nodded. "That's actually true."

"We only need to please ourselves, so it will be very simple."

"But you still need official witnesses, right?" Marni asked.

"Of course we do. No need to beat around the bush, you know you're my maid of honor."

Marni smiled, then turned to Winn. "And who is your best man?"

"Well, he said. "Even though this is a non-traditional wedding, the groom still needs to ask his best friend, so…"

He stared at his alien friend, "Kara, would you be my best man?"

She looked surprised, but then she smiled, "Of course I will!" Then she frowned, "Wait, will I have to wear a tuxedo?"

"No. Because no one will be." He told her.

"The dress code is whatever you feel comfortable in. I don't care what it is. I'm not forcing anyone to wear anything they don't like." Sam said.

"You still won't forgive me for your maid of honor dress." Marni said with a pout. "It was so lovely."

"I couldn't breathe."

"You looked gorgeous."

"If you like a gorgeous corpse. Anyway, no dress code."

"What are you guys wearing?" Kara asked.

"That's a surprise." Winn said. "But we would like to ask you guys to help with the other things. We'll pay for it, but we just…"

"I hate planning parties. We need your help. We don't want gifts. It's not like we need a new toaster." Sam told them.

"Actually, we could use a new toaster…" Winn started, but when he saw her face, he said, "Nope, don't need anything."

"So food. Nothing fancy. Burgers and dogs would be fine."

"I'll do food. It's in my blood." Marni said. "And cake."

"No fou-fou cake."

"Don't worry, I know you."

"And I'll get the liquor." Maggie said. "Guess it's kind of in my blood."

"I can do decorations." Kara said.

"Great, but no flowers." Sam said.

"None?"

"Very few. I'm not carrying a bouquet, nothing like that."

"Okay, I'll work it out."

Brad spoke up. "How about if I arrange the bachelor party since I don't think your 'best man' will be up to the task?"

"What's a bachelor party?" Mon-el asked.

"It's one last time for the groom to act like a single guy. Usually involves lots of drinking and strippers." Brad said.

"I can help with that." He replied.

Seeing the look on Sam, Marni and Kara's faces, Alex said, "Then I'm arranging the bachelorette party. Also involving drinking and strippers. And I do know how to arrange a straight bachelorette party."

Winn didn't look happy then, but Sam smiled, then leaned over and kissed him. "Don't worry, I won't do anything you wouldn't do."

He looked more upset at that, but the group was moving on.

"Okay, so what about pictures? Are you going to hire a photographer?" Marni asked.

"I didn't really think about that." Sam said.

"Oh," Kara said, "I know a young photographer at Catco. He's always trying to get me to use him on my stories. I'll bet he'll do it for next to nothing if I promise him that."

"Sounds good." Winn said. "I think we have all bases covered."

"How many people total?" Marni wanted to know. "So we can plan food and liquor."

"Just the people in the room. Plus J'onn I guess." Winn looked at Sam for confirmation.

"Right. And Beth from work. So if they bring someone, twelve people tops."

Everyone got busy with their tasks. A week before the wedding, the bachelor and bachelorette parties happened. There was drinking. There were strippers. Participants had a good time. Nothing got out of hand. At the end of the night, Winn and Sam were happy to be back in each other's arms.


	6. Chapter 6

The day of the wedding threatened rain early, but then cleared up to beautiful weather. They chose a Friday late afternoon/evening so that they could use the weekend for a honeymoon. They didn't plan to go anywhere, just to be together alone.

Kara had done a good job with decorations. There was a large tree that they were standing under for the ceremony. She gathered some vines and hung them so that they surrounded them. She put more around the pavilion where the reception would be. And since it was going to be evening, she added some twinkle lights. It was really convenient when your decorator could fly. Two picnic tables were set up in an 'L' shape and covered with white tablecloths, with more vines strewn along them. A third table was set up with the food and drink on it.

Sam and Winn stood in separate sections of the park, away from the wedding area, with their attendants, waiting for everyone to arrive. Once they had, Brad texted Marni and Kara.

They got ready to go to the wedding area. Marni wore an elegant dark red dress, one of her last purchases at Bloomingdales before she left New York. Kara wore a yellow sundress with a white belt. She laughed when she saw Winn's cardigan and tie.

"You're getting married in that?"

"My bride requested it so…"

"Well, it is you." She linked arms with him and they headed to the wedding,.

Sam did wear a dress. It was royal blue and very flowing, with a handkerchief hemline, a scoop top and a fitted top. She wore black flats with it. It was the most comfortable, yet pretty dress she'd ever owned.

Marni grabbed her hand. "I've been waiting forever for this moment."

"You've been a less than patient mom." She said sarcastically.

"Don't be fresh. Seriously, you found a good guy. I'm really happy for you."

"Thanks." Hand in hand, they headed to the wedding.

The justice of the peace was waiting. She'd been informed of their desires concerning this wedding, so she said, "I'm not going to talk much. Sam and Winn have some things to say to each other and they'll give each other rings at the end. Sam?"

Sam took a deep breath. "My life was boring, nothing exciting ever happened. Then an adorable nerd entered my life. From the first moment I saw him, I knew he was special. Despite his secrets and his pain, I fell for him hard. And by some miracle, he fell for me too. I left the city I'd lived in my entire life to be with him and I don't regret it. Winn, I love you and I'm ready for the next step in our lives."

She took out the wedding band and slipped it on his finger.

He smiled and stared at it for a moment before speaking. "Sam, when I met you, I was at the lowest point of my adult life. I didn't think I had any friends left or that I deserved any. But you took me in and you healed me and allowed me to forgive myself. I couldn't imagine living another day of my life without you." Then he put the band on her finger.

"My turn." Said the Justice of the Peace. "Since they've told us so perfectly why they belong together, I pronounce Winslow and Samantha married. Congratulations!"

Everyone cheered as the newlyweds kissed. When they ended the kiss, Winn yelled, "Time to party!"

Sam got her first look at what her friends had done in the picnic pavilion. "It's perfect, Kara, I love the decorations."

She went to the food table and saw the mini sandwiches, chicken wings and other assorted finger foods laid out. "This is great! Just what I wanted."

They she saw another small table with desserts set out and the item in the center. It was two cakes, one on the bottom and the other on a platform above it. The rich chocolate was evident, but Sam knew exactly what was inside.

"Is that really…oh my god!" she could hardly speak.

"What? What is it?" Everyone else wanted to know.

"How did you get that?" Winn asked Marni.

"Ordered it. They ship them."

"It looks wonderful." Kara said. "But what is it?"

"It's Junior's Devils Food Cheesecake." He told her.

"Juniors?"

"A restaurant in New York. Sam, do you want to tell them what's in it?"

"I'm hyperventilating, but yes I do. It's a layer of devil's food cake, spread on top with fudge frosting. Then there's a New York cheesecake on top of that, also spread with fudge frosting. Then another layer of devil's food cake and then the whole thing is covered with fudge frosting."

"That sounds amazing!" Kara said.

"You didn't want a fou- fou wedding cake, so I got you what I knew you'd like. Actually, two of them so that everyone would have some and you could still take some home."

"I love you for that!" Sam told her. "It's the most wonderful thing in the world. It's better than sex."

"Hey!" Winn said.

"Except for sex with you, darling."

"Okay." Winn said, mollified, then added, "I like the bride and groom on top."

The 'bride' and 'groom' were plastic figures of Han Solo and Princess Leia. Everyone laughed and the party began.

It was one of the nicest weddings any of them had ever attended.

Late that night, Winn and Sam lay in bed together, holding each other and talking about the day and all that had happened.

"So were you happy with your wedding, Mrs. Schott?"

"Yes, I was. And I haven't decided if I'm taking your name."

"Really? Okay, that's cool, whatever you want."

"What if I want you to take my name?"

"Uh, I don't know. Not that Schott is such a great name, considering my dad, but it's who I am, you know?"

"Yeah, I do. Same here."

"No rush to decide."

She snuggled up to him, thinking she had never been so happy in her life. What could possibly go wrong?

 **Hope everyone enjoyed the fluffy chapters. Cue the drama!**

 **By the way, that cake exists and it's amazing. If you're ever in NY, give it a try. Or order it on line.**


	7. Chapter 7

"Why aren't you answering your phone?" Sam asked Winn.

"Nothing important." He replied.

But she noticed that it rang many times over a period of about three weeks. He'd always look and if it was one of his friends, he'd answer. But other times, he'd look at it, frown and decline the call. She was curious. No one got that many telemarketers or spam calls.

One day, he was in the shower when it rang on the night stand. She picked it up and saw that it said "Van Kull Prison'. She glanced at the bathroom door, then answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hello. This is Warden O'Connell's office at Van Kull Prison. May I speak to Winslow Schott, Junior?"

"He's busy at the moment. This is his wife. Can I help you?"

"I've been trying to reach him for the last six weeks. It's imperative that he speak to us as soon as possible."

"Is this about his father?"

"Yes it is."

"Can you tell me? Because I'm afraid he won't contact you."

The woman hesitated before finally saying, "I need to inform him that his father is terminally ill. He only has a few weeks at most. If he wishes to see him, it will need to be soon."

"Oh, I understand,"

At that moment, Winn emerged from the bathroom and saw her talking on his phone.

"What are you doing?"

She glanced at him and raised a finger. "I'll make sure he gets the message and contacts you."

"Thank you." The woman said. Just in time because Winn grabbed the phone and disconnected.

"Why did you answer my phone?" he demanded.

"It rang. It was about your father."

"Don't you think I knew that every time the prison called? Did you ever think maybe I didn't want to talk to them?"

She knew he was angry and she knew that any discussion of his father brought out strong emotions from him. So she tried to be patient.

"Winn, he's dying. She said only a few weeks left."

"Good. He deserves to die."

"Winn."

"Well, he does. He killed six innocent people and more guards and agents. And then he tried to get me locked up with him."

"I know."

"Don't you think a monster like that deserves to die?"

"I'm not a judge and neither are you. But he is your father."

He made a derisive sound. "As if that matters to him."

"Maybe it doesn't. But it matters to you. You have to say goodbye."

"No, I don't. I hate him."

"No, you don't. You're disappointed, sad, you dislike him and hate what he did. But you don't hate him."

"I can't see him."

"You have to." He started to protest, but she interrupted. "Winn, the day my father died, I'd had a fight with him on the phone. He was late paying that loan I took out for him and I was worried about my credit rating. The last words I said to him were, 'You're selfish and irresponsible. Pay the loan.' Then I hung up without even saying goodbye. I never saw him or spoke to him again. A drunk driver hit him that evening."

She took his hands in hers. "I would pay ten huge loans for the chance to tell him goodbye and that I loved him. But I can't. I will live with that regret for the rest of my life. I don't want you to do that."

There were tears in her eyes and he pulled her into his arms.

"Baby, I'm so sorry. I just don't know if I can…"

"You can. Just go, say anything you want and say goodbye. When he's gone, at least you'll know you ended it."

He nodded. "Okay, we'll go see him."

She pulled back and stared at him. "We?"

"Yep. Not doing this without you by my side."

She took a deep breath. "Okay."

 **Sorry for the delay. I was In New York seeing Jeremy Jordan at Elsie Fest. So much fun! And sorry this one is a little short. Need to get the drama is smaller servings.**


	8. Chapter 8

Sam had never been inside of a prison before. She was glad she was only visiting. She wouldn't want to live there.

Winn had called the prison and arranged for them to visit. Due to his medical condition, his father was moved to a hospital cell – a bed soldered to the floor and wall with iron restraints on his wrists and ankles, as well as an electronic monitor.

Although to be honest, the man in the bed didn't seem strong enough to try any escape.

Winn had said that he and his father looked alike, but she didn't see it. Maybe it was the age or illness. Maybe it was also the look in his eyes that spoke of his insanity. Something she, thankfully, did not see in her handsome husband's eyes.

Winn approached the bed slowly. He almost wished that Sam hadn't talked him into doing this. But he knew that she was right. He had to say goodbye or he'd regret it.

Winslow Schott Senior's eyes were closed, but he wasn't asleep and he sensed someone was there. He opened his eyes and saw his son.

Winn." He said in a weak voice. "You came."

"Yeah." Winn swallowed, not sure what to say. What words were the right ones for a dying father whom you both loved and hated?

"I'm glad." His father said. "I hoped to see you one more time."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm dying. Guess you think I deserve a long and painful death, huh?"

"No one deserves that."

His father shook his head. "You're too nice. Always have been."

"Better than to be vindictive and murderous."

"True." He sighed. "Ah, well, doesn't look like I can create a toy or machine to save my life."

"Guess not."

"Doesn't matter. You are still my greatest creation."

"No!" Winn said emphatically. "You didn't create me. You may have been the manufacturer, but I created myself.

"Yes, I suppose so." He looked behind his son to where Sam was. "And who have you brought with you?"

Winn took her hand and pulled her forward. "This is Sam, my wife."

"Wife? Well, isn't that something? Sam, aren't you afraid to be married to the Toyman's son? Afraid he'll turn out like me?"

She shook her head, "No, sir. Winn is nothing like that. He's a good man, a kind man. He would never do what you did."

"He hasn't been tested yet. You don't know what he's capable of."

Winn started to say something, but Sam spoke first. "Yes, he has been tested. He didn't want to kill. He wouldn't. I'm sorry sir, that you're dying, but please do not compare yourself to my husband. He saves lives, he doesn't take them."

His father laughed and she realized that the man was as insane as Winn had said.

Winn looked at her and shook his head. "Dad, I don't need you to try to tell me again how I'm just like you because I know I'm not. I came to tell you goodbye. I came to tell you that I hate everything you did, everything you became, everything you tried to do to me, everything you are – I hate all of that. But I love you. I love the time before you became a murderer, when we were a family. I hate that you ruined that and took my childhood from me. But you're my father and I do love you. So goodbye, Dad."

He took his father's hand and squeezed it, then bent down and kissed him on the forehead.

Then he nodded to Sam and they left.

On the drive home, Winn was silent and Sam didn't say anything. She just rubbed his leg. It took a while before he spoke.

"Thank you." He said, taking her hand in his.

She smiled. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. It was hard, but you were right. I needed to do that."

"I know."

"You think you know everything, Mrs. Schott?"

"When it comes to you, Mr. Nolan, yes I do."

Three weeks later, he got a phone call from the prison that his father had died.

"Do you need me to make any arrangements?"

"No, that's all been taken care of. He's to be buried in National City, so the funeral director will be transporting the body there."

He was given the date and time of the funeral. When he ended the call, he told Sam.

"Are you going?" she asked him.

"I don't know. Should I?"

"You said goodbye, so that's good. But sometimes a funeral provides closure."

He nodded.

They went. There was a small service to be held at the gravesite. Winn and Sam arrived early and he assumed they'd be the only ones there, but he was surprised when Kara, Alex, Mon-el, J'onn, Maggie, Marni and Brad arrived.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We're here for the funeral." Alex said.

"But you didn't know him. And he was a murderer."

Kara took his hand. "We're here for you."

He had to hold back his emotion. He had no desire to cry for his father, but he could cry for this. For the fact that he had these friends… no, family. His father never had that. This was the difference between them. He had love in his life.

The minister was waiting, so Winn said, "I guess you can start."

"Actually, I'm waiting for Mrs. Schott."

Winn stiffened, while Sam said, "No, I'm here."

"Not you, dear. Ah, here she is."

They turned around to see an older woman with salt and pepper hair.

"Mom?" Winn said.

"Hello, Winn." She said.

"Mom? Your mom?" Sam was confused. So were the rest of his friends.

"What are you doing here?" Winn asked coldly.

"He was my husband. I never divorced him." She said.

"No. You just divorced me." He addressed the minister. "Let's get this over with. I need to get out of here."

Sam had never heard such venom in Winn's voice. She looked at their other friends, but they all looked confused. She put her hands around his upper arm, hoping to give him her support. His face was still cold, but he put his hand on top of hers as the minister began.

"Winslow Schott Senior was a troubled man. His pain and insecurity caused him to commit unspeakable acts, taking the lives of innocent people. But he served out the remainder of his life in prison paying for his crimes. We pray that the Lord shows mercy and forgiveness to this man."

Winn was not religious. He did not believe there was a god who would forgive his father. But if he did believe, he would hope that there would be peace for him at last.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at his mother. He did not wish peace for her.

The minister concluded his prayer and said, "Does anyone wish to say a few words?"

"No." Winn said at the same time that J'onn said, "I do."

Winn looked confused as the DEO director stepped forward.

"You never met him." Winn said.

"No, I never did." J'onn stated, looking around at those assembled. "But I know his son. And that is who I wish to speak of. There is a saying here that the sins of the father shall be visited on the son. Well, that is wrong. Winslow Schott Junior is an honorable man who works to save lives, not take them. He is loyal to his friends and his wife. He is a young man that I am proud to know. And while the man being buried today had little to do with the man his son has become, the one good thing he has done for the world was to father a child like this. I would be more than proud to have him as my son."

Sam could see that Winn was holding back his emotions. He stared at the ground and she heard a slight sniff, then he quickly wiped his cheek.

Winn's mother was openly sobbing, whether for her husband or son, no one could tell.

J'onn stepped back and the minister concluded the service. Winn's mother approached him.

"Winn, can I speak with you?"

"Why? You had a lot of years to speak to me. Why now?"

"I couldn't! They wouldn't let me, wouldn't even tell me where you were. I tried!"

"I don't believe you. Come on, let's get out of here." He said to his wife, pulling her away.

Sam looked at Kara and mouthed 'get her number.'

Kara nodded and once they'd gone, she approached the older woman.

"Mrs. Schott, I'm Kara Danvers, a friend of Winn's. I know he's upset, but I think once he calms down, he'll want to talk to you. Could I get your phone number?"

"Yes, of course. Do you think he will?"

"I've known him for a long time. He's not a cruel man, but today is overwhelming for him."

Miriam Schott looked at the pretty blonde girl with the kind face and the other people assembled. "I'm happy he has such good friends. And a wife! Is she good for him?" she asked as she typed her name and number in Kara's phone.

"She's wonderful. You don't need to worry about him."

Miriam smiled briefly, then walked away.

Kara immediately texted the information to Sam. When her phone indicated a text came in, Winn asked, "Who's that?"

"Kara is worried about you." That wasn't a lie.

"I'm fine. No one needs to worry about me."

She stayed quiet. This wasn't the time. When they got home, she hugged him and said, "This has been an emotional day for you. Why don't you go take a nap?"

"I told you, I'm fine."

"Honey, I know how I felt the day my father was buried. Go get some rest. You'll feel better."

He shrugged, then nodded and went into the bedroom.

 **I've made up a story about his mother. I've heard the show may be addressing that this season, but this is just my story. Hope you like it!**


	9. Chapter 9

Once he'd gone to the bedroom, she went to her computer. She'd learned a lot about hacking from him. She immediately went to National City Social Services. It wasn't too hard to find his file. There were notes about Miriam Schott having spent time in a mental hospital right after her husband was arrested. She was there for almost two years. Then Sam saw records of her petitioning the courts for custody of her son. All the petitions were denied. She also petitioned to be allowed visitation. This was also denied. The petitions continued until Winn turned eighteen and was out of foster care. That was where his Social Services records ended.

She knew that he'd gone to college on a scholarship and made his own way after that.

She saved the information she'd found in a file and left the Social Services site. Then she turned on the TV to wait for him to wake up.

When he finally got up, she turned off the TV and patted the sofa beside her. "Come sit here and let's talk."

"Nothing to talk about."

"Yes, there is. Tell me about your mother."

"Ah, my mother."

"I thought she'd died."

"She did. Well, as far as I was concerned."

Sam waited. Finally he said, "She left when my dad was arrested. What kind of woman leaves her eleven-year-old son at a time like that?"

"Maybe you should ask her."

"I have no desire to talk to her."

Sam hesitated before saying, "Did you ever look at your file from Social Services?"

"Why should I? I lived it."

She was silent and he grew suspicious. "Why? Did you?"

She nodded. "Do you want to know?"

"Should I?"

"I think so."

"Give me the abridged version."

"She was in a mental hospital for almost two years. That happened right as your father was arrested. When she got out, she petitioned for custody of you, but was denied. She also petitioned for visitation, but that was also denied. She did that from the time she was released until you graduated from high school and aged out of the system."

He was silent, thinking about her words. It took some time before he finally said, "She wrote to me when I was in college. I never read the letters. I wrote 'return to sender' on them. Every single one."

She took his hands in hers.

"I could have read just one. Just one. Maybe I could have understood…but I was so mad at her. Even more than my dad. He'd gone crazy. He couldn't help it. But the social workers, my foster parents, everyone told me she'd deserted me. That she'd walked out and they didn't know where she was. But they did. Why did they lie to me?"

She knew he was hurting. She hated that she'd brought this pain, but maybe it would also bring him some healing. "I don't know. But that's in the past. This is now and you have a mother and can reconnect with her."

He nodded, then got upset, "I can't! I blew her off, I don't…"

She pulled out her phone and showed him the name and number.

"How did you…?"

"I had Kara get it. I felt sure you'd want it eventually."

He leaned in and kissed her. "Falling in love with you was the best thing I ever did."

She smiled and gave him the phone. "Call her. Set up a meeting."

He took it and went into the bedroom. He sat quietly for a while, thinking about his mother and all of the years he'd been without her. Would he be able to reestablish a relationship with her?

After bolstering up his courage, he finally took out his phone, took a deep breath and punched in the numbers. He heard a hesitant "Hello?"

He waited a few seconds before saying, "It's Winn."

"Oh, my God! Winn!"

"I'm sorry for how I acted today."

"It's okay. You don't know, I didn't desert you, I …"

"I didn't know today, but I do now. Look, can we meet tomorrow for coffee?"

"Of course." They set up a place and time and he said goodbye. He sat considering what had just happened and how he felt about it, then headed back to the living room. To find it full of people.

All of their friends were there with refreshments.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Marni spoke up, "After a funeral, you're supposed to share a meal together. You took off too soon. So we'll do it now. I made lasagna." She pointed to the two steaming trays on the counter.

"We brought the beer." Alex and Maggie said.

"And we brought dessert." Kara said indicating the cake.

"I got ice cream." Mon-el added.

"I said we brought dessert." Kara told him.

"I know. I just really like ice cream." He said.

Winn smiled, then laughed . It was the first time he'd laughed since his father's death. It felt good. It also felt good to have these people that he loved there.

 **A few new readers have joined in. I'd love to hear from you!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for the delay. Busy week/weekend. But here's a nice long one for you!**

After everyone had gone home and they were cleaning up, Sam noticed that Winn was very quiet.

"You okay? I know you've gone through a lot today."

"Yeah, I have. To tell the truth, I'm a little worried about seeing my mother tomorrow."

"Why?"

"It's been a long time. Other than today, when I was rude to her, the last time I saw her was the morning before I went to school on the day my father was arrested. She kissed me and handed me my lunch and that was it. When I finished school for the day, a social worker was waiting for me. They told me about my father and said my mom was gone.

"I was eleven. I've changed. She's changed. What if…"

"Winn, you're her son, she's going to love you no matter what."

"What if I don't love her?"

"Unless she's a monster, you will. It may take some time to reconnect, but you will."

He sighed. "Do you remember your mom?"

"A little. I was three when she died."

"What do you remember?"

"She was beautiful. Unfortunately, I look like my dad, not her."

"Stop that." He warned.

She smiled. "No, but she was so beautiful. Like a fairy princess. She used to read me all those princess fairy tales and I always saw her as the princess. I think that's why I stopped liking them as I grew up. She was in them for me and it hurt too much. It wasn't until I met Marni that I started liking them again."

"Because Marni became your mom."

She laughed. "That's true! Well, mother hen anyway."

He said quietly, "How did she…"

"An aneurysm. It just burst one day and that was it. I don't remember all of this, but my dad told me later. I was taking my nap—I was only three – and when I woke up, I went downstairs and she was on the sofa. I thought she was taking a nap too, so I didn't bother her. I went back to my room and started playing with my toys. It was a few hours later that my dad came home and found her."

"So you were three and you were alone in the house with your dead mother?" he was incredulous.

"Apparently. I really don't remember much of that day except that my mom went away and didn't say goodbye. And then when I realized she'd had that aneurysm in her head all her life and it suddenly burst, I started to worry, did I have one too?"

He had a worried frown as he said, "Wait, could-?"

"No, I had a full checkup with an MRI. I'm clean."

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"The thing is," she continued, "Even though I was really young and don't remember a lot, I do remember how much she loved me. I'd love to see her again and tell her how my life has turned out. Especially to meet you."

She put her hand on his cheek. "So I think your mother is going to be fine with whatever you are. And you'll be fine too."

He smiled. "Where would I be without you? Oh, and I bet you're as beautiful as your mother was."

"No, I'm not."

"Got any pictures?"

"Yes." She ran to the bedroom and came back with a photograph. "This is my parents when they got engaged."

He looked at the photo of a dark, serious man and a smiling woman with honey blonde hair. She was beautiful, but then he noticed something.

"You have her smile."

"No, I don't."

"No, look." He led her to a mirror. "Now smile, really smile."

She did and he held up the photo next to her.

"See, you have the exact same smile."

She looked and she saw it. "I never realized. Maybe because I'm older now. I'm actually older than she was when she died."

He put his arms around her from behind and looked at their faces in the mirror.

"Yeah, I think she'd be proud of you. But not because of me. Because of the amazing woman you've become on your own."

He rested his head on her shoulder. "And I think my mom will be happy with me too."

The next day, he still entered the coffee shop with some trepidation. She was sitting at a table in the back. He'd arrived a few minutes early, but she'd still beat him there.

He took a deep breath and walked towards the table. She saw him looking around, so when he approached, she gave him a nervous smile.

"Sorry, I kept you waiting, I…" he said as he sat down.

"No, I got here really early. I wanted to be sure I could find it and I was …anxious."

He nodded, not sure what to say.

Finally, he started, "So, I want to apologize for yesterday. I didn't know."

"It's alright. I didn't know how to tell you."

"Tell me now. What happened?"

She sighed. "When the police came to arrest your father, I didn't believe it and I got really excited and screamed and probably got a little violent. They were taking away my husband! He couldn't murder anyone. I was a little hard to control. The police dragged me away as well. Then a doctor talked to me and I was taken to a hospital. When I realized what was happening, I kept trying to tell them about you. I didn't want you to come home to an empty house and no way of knowing what happened. I guess they took care of that?"

"A social worker came to school and picked me up. They told me about Dad, but when I asked about you, she said she didn't know. They put me in Juvenile protection and I kept asking about you. Finally, they told me that you ran away and they didn't know where you were."

She put her hand over her mouth. "Oh no! No wonder you hate me. They kept me in the hospital for twenty-two months. I kept asking about you, but they wouldn't tell me anything.

"When I got out, I went to Social Services immediately to find out where you were. They told me you were in foster care and I would have to petition the court to see you. So, that's what I did, but they denied me. I tried again, same result. I even tried to get the chance to just visit you, but they wouldn't let me. When I asked why, I couldn't get a good answer. Just kept saying I was mentally unstable. I wasn't."

He was silent, listening to everything she told him.

"By the time you turned eighteen," she continued. "I couldn't petition any longer, but they couldn't keep me from seeing you. I found out where you went to college, so I tried sending you letters."

He interrupted her. "I got them, but I didn't want to hear from you. I assumed you didn't want me any longer. Or that the whole situation was too much for you. I was so angry that I didn't care about trying to understand what you were going through."

"I didn't …I tried…" she started.

"I know. I should have realized that you wouldn't desert me. I guess I just felt so abandoned that hate was easier than understanding."

Tears started to pool in her eyes as she thought about her little boy lost and abandoned.

"No, please, don't cry!" he said. "Please, Mom, don't…"

She smiled then. "I've waited a long time to hear you call me Mom again."

He smiled too. She reached out and took his hand, then used her other one to stroke his cheek.

"You've grown into such a handsome man."

He rolled his eyes at that.

She touched the little scar on his chin. "What is this?"

"Car accident when I was thirteen. A piece of glass sliced my chin."

"Oh no! You could have been killed!"

"If it had hit my neck, yeah. But it didn't."

"Still, I could have lost you before I even got you back again."

She looked at his left hand that she was holding and saw the wedding band.

"And you're married." she said.

He nodded.

"The young lady that was at the funeral with you."

"Samantha—Sam. We've been married a few months."

"Are you happy?"

"Yes. She's the best thing that ever happened to me. And I've got good friends too."

"The other people that were there?"

"Yeah." He stopped and looked at her. "How about you? Are you happy? What are you…?"

"I work at the library in the next town. It doesn't pay a lot, but I enjoy it and I get by."

"Why didn't you ever divorce him? No one would have blamed you."

She shrugged. "It didn't really matter. I spent so many years trying to get custody of you, I didn't have the time or money to get a divorce. Besides, despite everything, I still loved him. I knew I could never love another man like that, so what was the point?"

"Really? You still loved him?"

"Didn't you?"

"No I hated him. Did you know he escaped a few years ago and tried to get me to kill Dunholtz for him?"

"I saw it on the news."

"So how could you think I still loved him?"

"Because he was your father. And he was sick."

Winn looked away so she wouldn't see that she'd struck a nerve. "Anyway, he's gone now, so we don't have to worry about him or his crazy vendetta anymore."

She nodded and they chatted about normal things after that. He noticed that she still seemed a little shaky.

"Mom, are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Just still nervous."

He smiled at her. "No need to be. We're …fine. Or, we will be. I know we can't go back and reclaim those years, but we'll start from today and have a new relationship. And I want you to meet my wife."

He texted Sam, who was hanging out in a store across the street. A few minutes later, she joined them.

"Sam," Winn said. "This is my mom. Mom, this is my wife, Sam."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Schott." Sam said.

"Oh, it's so wonderful to meet you. And please call me Miriam."

Sam smiled, especially when she saw how happy Winn was.

They chatted for a while longer, then parted with promises to meet again soon. Before leaving, Winn and his mother looked at each other awkwardly for a few moments, then Miriam pulled him into a hug.

"I'm so happy to have my boy again."

They held the hug for some time before breaking apart.

As they headed home, Sam could see her husband was overcome with emotion.

"How are you doing?" she asked him.

"I'm good." He answered, holding back tears. ""I got my mom back. I never thought…it's just," he turned to her, "Thank you."

"I didn't…"

"You looked into it. You made me see it." He grabbed her hand. "I don't know what my life would be without you."

Now she was crying and she put her head on his shoulder. "Me too."

 **The description of how he got his scar is what Jeremy has said interviews happened to him. Thought I might as well use the real reason. He also said that if it had been a little lower, it would have sliced his throat.**

 **Still love to hear from anyone who is reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

Sam's job at the DEO was running much smoother under Beth's leadership. For the first six weeks since Jillian and Paul had been fired, everyone in tech was required to give up two hours a week to help them get caught up. Winn hated it, but Sam loved bossing him around. Once everything was up to date, Beth organized the staff so that each project had two people working on them and everyone had help and support. She worked on projects herself, as well as assigning them, setting deadlines and doing reviews. Sam and she became very friendly and usually lunched together. With the department run with this type of efficiency, Sam found the job to be very satisfying.

She was working on a project with a young unmarried co-worker, Joe. They had stayed past the usual quitting time to finish it.

Sam hadn't felt well that day, so she'd skipped lunch and kept working. By 7 PM, it had been over twelve hours since she'd eaten anything and she started to feel it.

Joe saw that she seemed unwell. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a little light-headed. Probably from not eating today."

"We can stop now if you want, finish tomorrow."

"No, I have to start a new project tomorrow. Let's just get this done and then we'll go. My husband is doing some work while he waits for me, so I might as well finish."

They worked a few more minutes, but she found it hard to concentrate.

"I'm gonna get some water." She stood up and as soon as she started to walk, she collapsed.

Joe ran to her, "Sam! Sam!" but she was out cold.

He immediately panicked and ran out to the corridor and yelled, "Help! I need help!"

Two agents were walking by and he pulled them into the department.

"Sam passed out! I don't know what to do!"

They recognized her as Winn's wife. One of them texted him while the other tried to see if he could help her.

Winn glanced at his phone when he heard the text notification, thinking maybe Sam was finished with her work.

It was another agent at work, but the message said: your wife passed out in her office.

He jumped up and started running towards her department. Alex and Kara were walking by when they saw him in a frenzy.

"Winn, what's wrong?"

Without stopping, he called out, "Sam passed out. I don't know what happened."

They ran too and caught up with him.

Sam was starting to come to when he got there. He went down on his knees. "Sam, are you okay? What happened?"

"I don't know. I got a little dizzy, I didn't really eat today, so it's probably just hunger."

"Why don't we find out?" Alex asked. "Let's go to the infirmary and I'll give you a quick check?"

"That's not necessary." Sam said.

"Yes, it is. You passed out" Winn insisted.

"I didn't pass out. I just kind of fainted."

"Sam, that's the same thing." Alex told her. "Come on, it'll only take a few minutes."

"I have work to finish!"

"Not today you don't." Winn said firmly.

"I've got it, Sam." Joe said. "There's only a little bit. I can finish it."

Kara asked her, "Do you want me to carry you to the infirmary?"

"No!" Sam was starting to get embarrassed. She hated being the center of attention. "No, thank you. I can walk."

She stood up, with Winn helping and even though she insisted that she didn't need him to, he kept his arm around her as they walked to the infirmary.

Alex led her inside, but stopped Winn. "You stay out there."

"But…"

"I can get this done faster without you breathing down my neck."

She closed the door in his face and Kara put her hand on his arm.

"I'm sure she's fine, Winn. She's very healthy."

"Her mom died of an aneurysm. She was healthy until that happened. And she was younger than Sam is now. What if…?" he couldn't finish as tears began choking him.

Inside the infirmary, Alex was taking Sam's temperature and blood pressure and drawing blood.

"Is that necessary?" Sam asked her.

"Yes." She put the blood into a machine that instantly analyzed it. When Alex saw the results, she turned to Sam.

"Anything you want to tell me?"

"No. Why? Did you find something?" Sam started to worry.

"Nothing that won't resolve itself in a few months." Alex said with a smile.

Sam looked confused.

Alex shook her head. "You're pregnant."

"What? I can't be!"

"Considering the way you and Winn are all over each other in public, I can only guess what you do when you're alone, so I would say, you most certainly could be. And are."

"But I'm on the pill!"

"It's 99% effective. Lots of women have gotten pregnant on the pill."

Sam sat back, stunned. "Wow. I wasn't expecting this. But I haven't missed a period."

"That happens sometimes too. Especially when you're on the pill. And that's why you fainted. Not enough fuel for the baby."

"Baby. Wow."

"You should go see your OB/GYN to get checked thoroughly, find the due date, get vitamins, etc." Alex glanced at the glass wall and said, "But right now there is a very worried Winn Schott out there."

Sam saw how upset her husband was. "Send him in. I want to tell him. You can tell your sister."

Alex looked at Kara who was trying to reassure Winn, but also looked very concerned. She went out and told Winn, "You can go in."

"What is it?" he asked.

"Talk to your wife."

He ran in and went to Sam. "What is it?" he asked again.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"No, something's wrong."

"There's something, but nothing wrong. At least I hope you don't think so." She grabbed his hands in hers. "Winn, I'm pregnant."

"You're…you're…you're gonna…we're gonna…oh my god!" he looked totally shocked.

"Is this okay? I know we haven't really discussed this and we weren't planning it now, but…are you okay with this?"

His face slowly broke into a smile. "I'm okay with it. I'm great." He hesitated, then told her, "Can I tell you why I was so worried out there?"

She nodded.

"I remembered what you told me about your mom."

"My mom?"

"How she died. When you passed out, I got really scared that you…" he couldn't finish.

"Oh, honey! No, you can't worry like that. I told you I got checked. I'm fine."

"I know, I know. I was just…I got scared."

She put her hand on his face.

"Anyway, you are fine." he said. "You're great, amazing and we're gonna be parents. Can you believe that?"

"I know." She laughed, "Oh, I have to call Marni!"

"Yeah. And I need to tell my mom." He stopped and looked at her. "That feels good. To have this good news and have my mom here to tell it to."

When he left the room, Kara attacked him and pulled him into a hug. "Oh my god! Winn, I'm so happy for you!"

"Thanks!" he said, laughing. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"This is so exciting!"

Everyone had the same reaction and it was an exciting evening.

That night, as they lay in bed together, Winn was a little solemn.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"It's just hitting me now. I'm gonna be a dad."

"You are."

"Didn't really have a good role model in that department."

"Before he became a murderer, how was he? As a dad I mean."

"He was…pretty okay. We did stuff together. We liked the same things. We'd build stuff. It was cool. I never thought he would, you know."

"So why don't you take the good things that you did with him and remember those? Use them as a guide for your relationship with your child. And put the rest of it away."

"Yeah, I guess."

He was silent for a bit and she almost thought he'd fallen asleep, when finally he said in a quiet voice. "What if I end up being like him?"

"Do you mean as a killer?"

"Yeah."

"Winn, that won't happen. You're different, you could never hurt anyone. We went through this when you saw him before he died."

"I know. But it still goes through my mind sometimes. And now, with our kid on the way…"

She put her arms around him and held him tight. "No. That's not you and never will be."

He held on to her. "Don't stop believing in me."

"Never."

 **Do you guys love these two as much as I do?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Now that you're all awwing over the baby, time to lower the boom. Did you think I was going to keep everything happy and fluffy? Read on...**

It was a letter addressed to Winn, with no return address. It didn't look like a bill. It was a plain white envelope and the name and address were typed. The postmark said 'National City.'

Sam handed it to him.

"What's this?" he asked her.

"Don't know, but it's addressed to you."

He opened it, read it and frowned. He handed it to her. "Read this."

It was typed and it said:

 _Chester Dunholtz destroyed your family. Why was his lawyer, William Singer, at all of your custody hearings? Why was he in contact with the hospital your mother was in? Why was he in contact with Social Services while you were in foster care? Why did Dunholtz pay him after each of those?_

That was it. No signature. Nothing to indicate who it was from.

"What do you think it means?" she asked him.

"I'm not sure. I mean, I guess Dunholtz was pissed that my dad tried to kill him."

"Even though he stole your dad's toy designs."

"Yeah, but still, this is confusing. Do you have the information from my Social Services file?"

"I saved it." She went to her computer and pulled it up. He read about his mother petitioning for custody and visitation and being denied. He went deeper into the court records. Sure enough, William Singer was present at the hearing and made a statement on why the child should remain a ward of the court.

"Why would he care?" Sam wondered.

Neither of them had an answer. Winn searched the Social Services file and found that every time he was moved to a new foster home, it was the result of the family he was with requesting his reassignment after receiving an anonymous tip about something Winn had done. He looked deeper and found what each complaint was.

"I never did any of these things!"

"Someone thought you did."

"Or told my families that I did apparently."

Finally, Winn looked up his mother's hospital records and found that his mother was eligible to be released only a day or two after being admitted. But for some reason she was kept there for almost two years. It was a private hospital and a little more digging found that there was a substantial donation to the hospital every six months while she was there. The donor was not named, but it was administered by William Singer's law firm.

"She could have been released long before she was." Sam said.

"I bet she didn't even need to be there. She said she got upset when he was arrested. But anyone would. Why would they put her in a hospital?"

"It says here that she had a mental breakdown and was delusional."

"Do you think Dunholtz arranged to keep her there to get back at my dad?" Winn asked.

"I guess it's possible." She thought about it for a minute. "Why did someone send you this? What do they expect you to do with the information?"

"I don't know."

He put the letter aside, but he didn't forget about it. He thought about the life he and his mom could have had. Yes, his dad being in jail was terrible, but at least he could have grown up with his mother, loved and cared for instead of in a series of foster homes, each one worse than the last.

It bothered him for days. Finally, he decided to try to get some answers.

He went to Dunholtz's office and waited until he came out and was heading to his car. Winn approached him and introduced himself.

"What are you doing here, Schott?"

"I want to ask why did you try to destroy my family?"

"Isn't it obvious? Your father tried to kill me. He succeeded in killing my assistant who'd worked for me for ten years, as well as five other trusted workers."

"But he was sent to prison. He paid for his crime."

"It wasn't enough. Nobody attacks me and gets off that easily. I knew I couldn't rest until I destroyed your entire family. Looks like I didn't do a very good job, since you're here."

"You realize that if you hadn't stolen my father's designs, none of this would have happened?"

"Are you excusing what he did?"

"Of course not. But you held some responsibility for it."

"Sorry, I don't agree. What I did was business. What he did was criminal."

"And what you did afterwards was a petty vendetta."

"You say vendetta, I say justice."

"My mother and I didn't do anything wrong. What right did you have to destroy us?"

"All the right in the world. I'm rich, I have power. You have none."

"You're an asshole."

Dunholtz laughed and Winn felt anger rise up in him. By this time, security from the building had come out as had Dunholtz's partners.

Winn was oblivious to all of those people. He swung his arm to punch Dunholtz, but a security guard grabbed his arm and twisted it back.

"If I didn't care about you before, I do now." Dunholtz told Winn. "I'm going to destroy you."

He turned to his partner, "Call the police."

Winn got out of the security guard's grasp and ran down the street, cursing himself for being so stupid.

But that wasn't the end of it. That evening while he and Sam were getting ready for bed, there was a knock on the door. Winn answered it and spoke to someone for a few minutes before returning to the bedroom with some papers in his hands.

"Who was there?" Sam asked and indicating the papers, "What's that?"

He looked sheepish. "I did something stupid today."

She sat on the bed. "Tell me."

"I went to talk to Chester Dunholtz."

"Why?"

"I wanted to know why he did it. Why he tried to destroy my family."

"And what did you find out?"

"That he's an asshole."

"I could have told you that without you seeing him."

He nodded.

"So what are the papers?"

He sighed. "It's a restraining order Dunholtz took out against me."

"Oh, Winn!"

"I know, I was stupid."

"Yes, you were."

He looked so upset, she couldn't keep chastising him. She went to him and pulled him into her arms.

"Please promise me you won't try anything like that again before talking to me first."

He nodded. "I promise."

She took a deep breath. "Okay, nothing we can do to change it. Just do whatever that thing says and let's put this whole mess behind us."

"Yeah."

 **Buckle up kids, this story is going to get really dramatic! Sorry about that.**


	13. Chapter 13

But putting it behind them was not to be. Almost two weeks later, Winn and Sam were at home watching TV when there was another knock at the door. They both got up and when he opened it, there were two men standing there, one wearing a suit, the other in a police uniform. The man in the suit said, "Winslow Schott Junior?"

"Yes." Winn said warily.

"I'm Detective Franklin. We need you to come to the station to answer a few questions."

"About what?"

"About the murder of Chester Dunholtz."

"M-murder? I don't know anything about murder. Dunholtz was murdered?"

"I'm not here to answer your questions, Mr. Schott. I am bringing you in to answer ours."

He looked at Sam, then at the police officers. Sam's heart was pounding, but she said, "You did nothing wrong. He did nothing wrong!" she told the police.

"Ma'am, he needs to come with us so that we can figure it out."

Winn could see Sam getting upset. "It's okay. Like you said, I didn't do anything wrong. I'll just go answer their questions." He kissed her and left with them.

She immediately pulled out her phone and called Alex. "I don't have Maggie's number, but the cops just took Winn for questioning about Chester Dunholtz's murder. Can you find out what's happening?"

"She's working, but I'll find out and I'll call you right back." She disconnected, but called back no more than five minutes later.

"Get him a lawyer." Alex told her.

"Why?"

"She was working and couldn't talk, but said to get him a lawyer immediately."

Sam disconnected without saying goodbye and punched in the number for Marni.

She answered sleepily. "Hey kid, I'm beat. Can I call you tomorrow?"

"No. The police took Winn for questioning for murder. Maggie says he needs a lawyer."

Marni was instantly alert. "Text me where he is and the detective's name. I'm getting dressed now."

While they were talking, Alex had gotten the location for her and Sam forwarded it along with the detective's name to Marni who texted back: On my way.

At the police station, Detective Franklin had put Winn in an interrogation room and left him there to worry. He found that suspects' imaginations sent them in all sorts of directions and could get them saying things without thinking. So it was almost forty-five minutes before he entered the room.

When he did, he sat across from Winn and said, "I understand Chester Dunholtz had a restraining order against you."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It was a misunderstanding."

"Why don't you help me to understand it?"

"I went to see him and we had an argument."

"Why'd you go to see him?"

"I—" He was interrupted by the uniformed officer, knocking on the door, then opening it.

"His lawyer is here." He told Franklin.

"He's not under arrest. He doesn't need a lawyer."

"Well, he's got one. His wife must've called her."

Franklin turned to Winn. "Your lawyer is here. We'll get further and get you out faster without a lawyer."

Winn didn't know he even had a lawyer, but something about this felt really bad to him and he had a feeling a lawyer was a good idea.

"I want my lawyer here."

The officer nodded and a few seconds later opened the door and Marni entered.

"I need to speak to my client in private."

"He hasn't been arrested, we're just questioning him."

"And since he hasn't been arrested, he can walk out of here. So if you want to continue questioning him, you'll let me speak to him in private."

Franklin blew out a breath, but left the room, saying before he left, "You have ten minutes."

Marni sat down beside him and said, "Do you know what this about?"

"Chester Dunholtz was murdered. They said they want to ask me questions."

"Do you know why?"

He looked down at the table. "Maybe because Dunholtz had a restraining order against me."

"Why? And make it quick."

He told her what had happened as quickly as he could.

"Okay, answer their questions as briefly as possible and don't volunteer any information."

Just in time, because then Franklin knocked and opened the door.

"We ready?"

"My client will answer your questions now."

"So tell me about why you went to see Dunholtz."

Winn thought carefully before speaking. "I wanted to talk to him."

"About what?"

"My family."

"Your father tried to kill him and spent a lot of time in prison because of it."

"Yes."

"Did you resent Dunholtz for that?"

"No. My father deserved it."

"But then he tried to hurt you and your mother, didn't he?"

Winn was silent.

"Mr. Schott, tell me what Dunholtz did. You do realize we can find out all of this."

Winn looked at Marni, who nodded briefly.

"He stopped my mother from obtaining custody of me for all of the years that I was in foster care."

"Wow, that must have made you angry."

"I just wanted to know why."

"Did he tell you why?"

"He wanted to punish my mother and me for what my father had done."

"And that didn't make you angry?"

"Not really."

"You hit him."

"No, I mean…" he looked at Marni.

"Detective, the details of my client's confrontation with Dunholtz are in the restraining order which I am sure you've already read. Unless you have a specific question about Mr. Dunholtz's death, I'm taking him out of here."

"Fine. Where were you Sunday morning?"

"Sunday? I was home."

"Were you alone?"

"No, my wife…no, she was out."

"What time did your wife leave?"

"Around nine-thirty. I guess I was alone after that."

"Can anyone confirm that you were at home?"

"I…no, I guess not. My wife went to brunch and I went back to sleep. I got up around eleven, but I didn't go anywhere."

"What time did your wife come home?"

"I'm not sure. Around one, I think."

Franklin sat back. "Mr. Schott, is there anything you want to confess right now? If you do, the DA might be able to get you a deal."

"Confess? What would I have to confess?"

Franklin stared at him for a few minutes. "What you did to Dunholtz."

"I didn't do anything to Dunholtz!" Winn was getting agitated. Marni put her hand on his arm.

Franklin continued. "Here's what I think happened: You were pissed at Dunholtz for what he did to your family. He also threatened to destroy you. There are witnesses to that. When he took out the restraining order, it just made you madder. You lost your head and killed him."

"No!" Winn was upset. They thought he killed Dunholtz? "No, that didn't happen. I didn't kill him!"

"But you went to see him."

Marni spoke, "That's in the restraining order and Mr. Schott has already told you about it."

"Tell me again."

"I wanted to find out why he did it. Why he tried to destroy my family."

"And when he told you why, you were angry at him."

"Yes, I mean, I was upset."

"So upset that you hit him?"

Winn looked at Marni, who said, "Again, that's in the restraining order."

"I want to hear it from him."

"He laughed at me, at our pain. I…yes, he made me angry and I tried to hit him, but I was stopped, so I never did hit him."

"Wow, that must have really made you mad. All he did to you and you didn't even get the satisfaction of hitting him."

"No, I realized it was stupid. I just lost my head."

"Did you lose your head again yesterday when you killed him?"

"I did not kill him!"

"Maybe you went crazy, like your father. You could have killed him and not remember."

"Detective," Marni said, "Unless you're a trained and licensed psychological professional, you cannot make that allegation. My client has been an upstanding member of society his entire life."

"Didn't you try to kill Dunholtz a few years ago?"

"No. I mean, my father tried to force me to, but I didn't shoot him. I couldn't. Even though other people's lives were at stake, I couldn't do it."

"As I recall, Supergirl stepped in at the last moment. Maybe that's why you didn't shoot him."

"No, I didn't shoot him because I couldn't. I can't kill anyone."

"So you've never tried to kill anyone?"

"No."

"Not even in your job?"

Marni sighed. "Detective, Mr., Schott is a government agent. I could ask you that question and the answer would be the same. What's done as part of his job is not personal."

"But he said he can't kill anyone. Apparently he can."

"Detective, there is a difference."

Franklin shook his head. "Not really. I can kill someone if my life is in danger. Could you, Mr. Schott?"

"I—maybe."

"How about if your wife was in danger?"

"Maybe."

"Detective, it's very late. Mr. Schott has answered your questions. If you don't have anything else for him, can we…?"

"No, we cannot. I think you killed him. And all that bullshit about being a government agent doesn't impress me. You work with Supergirl and she doesn't impress me either. I don't trust anyone with that much power. She could have helped you kill him."

"What? No!"

"Or maybe your wife did."

"Leave my wife out of this."

"Then tell me what really happened."

"I told you. I was home, alone, all morning. I did not kill him. Yes, I was angry at him, but I did not kill him."

Franklin tried a few more question and jabs to shake Winn, but he'd calmed down a bit and didn't say anything more.

Franklin left the room. Winn asked Marni. "What's gonna happen?"

"It depends. If the DA thinks they have enough to bring charges, they could arrest you."

"Arrest?"

"But if not, they can only hold you a few hours without arresting you. So far, it looks like everything they have is circumstantial. No witnesses, no fingerprints. They need to put you at the scene somehow."

Twenty minutes later, Franklin returned.

"Detective, my client—"

"Your client is in deep shit. Winslow Schott, you are under arrest for the murder of Chester Dunholtz. You have the right to remain silent…"

As the detective reeled off the Miranda rights, Winn's head was in a spin. This couldn't be happening. He'd tried so hard to be different from his father. How could he be arrested for murder?

The uniformed officer put handcuffs on him.

"Don't worry, Winn." Marni told him. "We'll get you out on bail in the morning."

 **This is the end of Winn-ing - Part 1. Sorry to leave you on a cliff-hanger! I will start to post Part 2 in a few days. In the meantime, Winn will be waiting in jail!**


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